Reconnaissance
by Lunar
Summary: It's WW5 and Deunan and Briareos are right in the thick of it. Kicking butt and taking names while fighting in the badlands. This story is before 'Jungle Boogie' in timeline. Mangaverse
1. Chapter 1

- Reconnaissance – (part1)

An Appleseed fanfic

Characters & universe created by Masamune Shirow.

Author's Note: I've cleaned up the chapters a little to meet the M guideline for ffnet, so if you've read this story elsewhere expect a few changes,

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DEUNAN

It was pouring as Briareos slogged his way back to her through the line. Water pelted off his face, running the length of his extendibles and dripping in a steady trickle down the tarp he wore as a poncho.

Deunan raised her hand in greeting, wondering how he could even tell which of the hunched soldiers swathed in grey raingear was her. Compared to the line of soldiers and trucks buttoned up and dripping wet in standard colors of blue and grey, his tawny blotches, originally desert cammo, really did stick out. She smirked to herself, as she hooked her wet hair behind her ears, that he'd have stood out anyway. Their outfit ran on the lean-side as far as cyborgs were concerned. Really, Briareos was the only one. He fell in-step besides her, conveniently placing his larger frame between her and a jeep that was accelerating alongside the main column, sparing her the indignity of being sprayed with mud when already soaked to the bone.

"So what did they want?" She asked, glad that at least it wasn't a freezing rain. If anything the clammy humidity was more annoying than the mud. The air felt thick enough to swim through.

"They wanted me to try and boost signal to the satellite. Verify our position." He shrugged, water sheeting off his shoulders with the futile gesture. "I tried to explain to them that my system doesn't work that way, but they figured it was worth the attempt."

"You get anything?" Deunan watched her footing over a particularly soft section of road, wishing the sucking mud to the seventh level of hell.

Briareos shook his head slowly, rain running over the plates that made his cheeks and chin, giving the illusion of tears. "Not a damn thing. The rain is causing merry hell with the signal. The clouds must be a mile thick up there. Lots of moisture beading up. Lots of noise."

"That sucks." She grinned up at him. "So we're walking in circles, potentially."

"In the rain." He agreed with false cheer. "In the dark."

"Surrounded by enemy drones, no doubt." She leaned against him briefly, not as depressed about their situation as she probably ought to have been. Sure marching in the rain wasn't her idea of a fun time, but Briareos was strangely good company, even now.

The longer they staggered through the confusion of the war, the more she found she could put up with so long as they stuck together. The only times she ever felt truly lost or frightened was when she hadn't known where he was. Whether he was still alive. Finding his battle group after her own had been all but demolished in the initial chaos had been such a tremendous stroke of luck that she was willing to put up with a little misery in other parts of her life. She was young, and healthy, and had the training and wits to survive. In that she was a lot better off than most of the poor bastards she marched with. She glanced around her at the exhausted and downtrodden expressions of the soldiers around her before looking back to Briareos' enormous silhouette looming next to her against the dreary sky.

They'd never managed to find him rain gear in his size. Deunan shook her head at how slapdash they both managed to look after a year in the field. Her own gear had definitely seen better days, and she at least knew how to mend a rip and re-attach a button. Homemaker of the year she'd never be, but she thanked her hazy childhood memories for _some_ feminine skills amidst her more violent talents. Briareos' fingers were too big for such chores, so she assigned herself the task of keeping them both up to scratch. Even her humble efforts were apparently the exception rather than the rule. Their whole army looked one step away from bandits, honestly. She couldn't remember the last time they'd had a proper refit. Not since she'd ditched her previous unit to reunite with her partner, at least.

Most of the gear and weapons the team had, they'd scavenged from derelict depots or looted off the dead. Her boots still had the stains of their last owner, if she bothered to look closely. Briareos' poncho had started life as an all-weather cover on an ATV. But they were surviving, and were headed back into an honest to god camp at last, if they could find it.

She was half tempted to tell her cyborg to strip down to the skin just so that the torrent could take care of some of the worst of the dirt that had formed a film over him the past few weeks. He'd never go for it. Even with metal plates covering anything that might qualify as indecent, he got tetchy about the idea of 'wandering around naked'. Probably the water would do more harm than good. Dusty as he had been, the moisture would just make the crap stick worse than it already had, caking into mud that would get into all his joints and cause no end of annoyance later.

She knew _she_ would kill for a shower. At the rate her man was going, he'd need to get worked over with a toothbrush before he'd be able to move without sand chafing at his servos. The constant dust was probably taking years off his joints' useful life, and replacements were a rare commodity out in the middle of nowhere. Resolved to find that toothbrush as soon as they hit camp, she was too distracted to notice him reaching for her until he wordlessly lifted her pack from her shoulder, swinging it up onto his back next to his own.

"It's bad for morale when you carry my stuff for me, handsome." She gave him a gentle shove as she grinned up at him. The move was about as effective as trying to push against the side of a tractor. He just shook his head at her again, sending a shower of droplets down, and causing her to duck and turn her face away in order to avoid the additional soaking. Anyone who might have complained about her unfair exploitation of her partner, was too busy being miserable and wet however, and didn't bother to look up.

Deunan glanced ahead with tired curiosity. The murky line of men marching in front of her looked the same as ever. Distant lights from the command trucks showed the front of the column, but other than the trudge of men around her and the steady hiss of the rain, the evening felt claustrophobically quiet. There was no way to tell where they were going with all the fog. Following the road was probably the best they could do. Mind wandering again, she stared into the shadows along the side of the road, rolling her shoulders to relax them now that her bag was in Briareos' keeping. She blinked, swearing she could see something like a town outlined in vague shadows on the hillside. Pulling her goggles down over her eyes, she toggled them into night mode, and found the image not that much better. There was something out there, shelter maybe, to their left. She scanned for heat signatures out of habit.

"Ghost town." She mused aloud.

Following her stare, Briareos gave the distant target a calm inspection of his own. "Seems that way. Bet you five bucks we have to recon it anyway?"

"No bet." She shook her head, already well familiar with the leadership's paranoia. "I'm surprised we haven't gotten the ping already."

No sooner than she'd speculated about it, than her earpiece came to life, discrete series of tones clearly issuing the order for specialists to separate from the main group and meet at the forward checkpoint for instructions. Briareos tilted his head at her, the closest he could manage to a knowing look, before handing her back her pack and leading the way forward.

They and ten others, a mix of former special-forces types and civilian experts, were given orders and allowed to dump nonessential gear for the side-trip. Deunan sighed in resignation as she hopped down off the roadbed into a knee-deep drainage culvert running parallel to the highway. The muddy water soaked her pants and boots immediately as she slogged her way to the relatively drier land a few yards in.

The ground was little better than clay-heavy mud, shale, and some miserable grass. She followed the other scouts in picking her way up hill towards the outskirts of the abandoned looking settlement. In the sunshine the place probably looked like any number of other badlands. On a wet and foggy night, it looked like something out of a cheesy horror film. Wiping her goggles on the relatively dry fabric of her collar, she peered through the mist again, trying to guess what it was they were walking into.

Not on point this time around, she watched for the silent hand-signs from further up and worked her way to the west as she was bid. Briareos was a few yards further to her right, stalking forwards at a half-crouch as he too prepared to come at their objective from a supporting position. Trusting his enhanced ears to pick up anything note worthy, she didn't bother to turn on her surveillance equipment, knowing it would all be a mess due to the rain anyway. If they did get blasted with an audible attack, at least one of the two of them wouldn't be immediately deafened. Deunan felt for her flares, and spare clips as she crossed the last exposed section of ground and pressed her back against the welcome mass of a broken wall. The old outbuilding provided a pleasant bit of cover right before they committed to sweeping the town. Something about the hush, and the hiss of rain, made her neck itch. Paranoia, she wondered? Or her elusive 'sixth sense' for battle?

Glancing sideways, she could make out Briareos' distant bulk as he crouched next to the next building, peering into town with both extendibles forward. For a comical minute she was reminded of a giant watchdog. His antenna's looked like the alert ears of some sort of robotic canine as he leaned forward on his hands to get a closer look at something. She blew through her teeth at him, not even a whistle, but enough to get his attention. When he looked over, she did her one-handed best to ask him what he saw, fumbling the signs as her hood got in the way.

Rain and clumsiness aside, he seemed to understand her just fine. He carefully gave the 'all clear', with a more hesitant follow on of 'something fishy' a moment later. Deunan frowned at the conflicting message, repeating the all clear back to him for confirmation. He visibly shrugged, as if to say he had no more idea of what they could expect than she did. She flipped the safety off her gun and popped the toggles on her raincoat, hoping she remembered to come back for it later. Better to fight unobstructed and get soaked, than to be optimistic about the tickle on the back of her neck, and get killed because she was too lazy to dress for action.

Her headset chimed as she was settling her nerves, the signal to close and secure their initial position. Looking left and right to verify her closest allies, Deunan pushed forward in a crouched run, trying to keep her eyes on everything at once, not wanting to mark a friendly by accident, but not wanting to miss anything hostile either. Briareos was a silver and black shadow as he kept to her right, shadowing a building and pressing along side a door, waiting for her to back him. Sweeping the empty street adjacent with her automatic, she didn't see any reason not to and matched his stance on the other side of the door, looking to him to see who'd do the honors. He jerked his chin at the entrance, offering his silent 'ladies first' while holding his rifle at the ready. It was almost like old times. Deunan smiled at him as she twisted and kicked through the half rusted alloy door, rolling into the room and training her weapon on the dusty interior. It was bare floor for the most part. Feeling Briareos looming over her shoulders, she shuffled forward, prodding a likely looking pile of rags with her foot.

"Clear." He whispered after making a thorough inspection of the walls and ceiling. Deunan nodded, proceeding to a second door, preparing for their next check. Repeating the process brought them to a two-level structure, again stripped bare. The roof had failed in places, leaving the building smelling of mildew as the rain happily pattered into puddles on the floor. A third door brought them back out into the storm. Deunan brought her gun up reflexively as another member of their team emerged from the partially ruined building across the street. They exchanged 'all clear' signals before continuing forward as a group.

Closing on the center of the tiny town from three sides, they all gathered in the town center. The ruined 'burb was almost too quaint with its crumbled well, dilapidated trees, and broken storefronts. Deunan snorted at the archaic example of 'Smalltown, U.S.A' left over from before the third war. Half buried in the dust and long forgotten, it was almost like a film set from one of those historical dramas her partner liked watching so much. It was interesting, but hardly worth standing around in the rain for. With nothing so far to threaten them, everyone looked at each other for validation. Deunan shook her head at how most of the so-called specialists hadn't bothered to remove their coats. They were probably drier than she was, at present, but her father had beaten his motto into her at too young an age for her to ever forget it.

Confidence was a killer.

She put the safety back on her gun, relaxing a fraction, but couldn't let her guard down. The tickle at the back of her scalp hadn't gone away. Maybe she'd gotten water under her helmet, she wondered prosaically. Probably the fog was just making her paranoid. Habit had her at an angle to Briareos' shoulder. Instinctively covering his relative blind-spot while his attention was forward, she waited for their team captain to make up his mind whether they would look further or hoof it back to the road. Habit, or dumb luck, therefore allowed her to spot the telltale gleam of tracer light in time to sing out and warn the others.

Her partner didn't even waste the effort of turning to look, arm snapping out and encircling her waist in order to lift her bodily off her feet and against his side. Deunan cursed as she tried to bring her gun to bear where the tracer had come from a moment before. Keeping her arm steady as he charged forward into the most likely bit of cover was nearly impossible. Her first shot went wide thanks to the sudden change in momentum, but she was able to correct for the second as she was carried backwards. Something grunted in pain from the shadow of a storefront and fell to the side. Any further analysis was postponed by the obscuring mass of Briareos' chest as he shoved her down and into a likely building. His gun nearly deafened her as he suddenly took aim at something sharing their hidey-hole with them. Deunan clamped her free hand to her head, cursing the fact that she hadn't put in earplugs. It was an easy fix. She jammed the necessary safety equipment into her unprotected ear, trusting her headset to keep her other one from ringing. A moment later and she was back on her feet, listening to the sporadic rattle of gunfire from all sides of the square. Underneath the high pitched clatter of bullets came a lower, whining sound and a 'thud' that shook the floor.

"Bri?" She got his attention. Wondering if she was hearing what she thought she was, or if it was just an artifact from her still buzzing ears. Her cyborg looked up from his kill, eyes glowing in the darkness. "Do you hear that?"

"Massive servo noise." He confirmed grimly. "Treads. Mobile platform maybe? Something big."

"Cyborg?" She gestured at the remains of the soldier her partner was kneeling on, noting the tell-tale glimpse of metal plating down one arm.

"Yeah." He stood, crossing to the door to get a better look at what else was suddenly hunting them. "No good parts though."

"Too bad." Deunan replied practically, switching to her heavier gauge rifle in anticipation of needing the armor piercing rounds. "Maybe the big boy will have something you can use."

"That's one way to look at it." He replied, grimly entertained by her optimistic comment. "Ready?"

"Born ready, handsome." She leapt forwards into the melee, kneecapping the first enemy she dove past and letting her partner's precision aim obliterate the next two from over her shoulders. A spatter of bullets and a horrified curse to her left hinted at the unseen mobile fortress hidden in the fog. Sensing more than seeing that her team was scattering before the hard-target, she opted for the reverse, trusting her reflexes and tiny size to give her the advantage against the heavily armored but slow moving assault vehicle. Briareos gamely followed, knowing as well as she did that if the machine broke free of the town it would cause all kinds of chaos with their exhausted column on the highway.

Had they sprung the trap meant for their force? Or had they simply walked into an enemy camp by chance that they could have just as easily gone around? It was too late now, either way. "Did you see any flares?" She asked over the sudden roar of heavy shells.

They split up as they dodged the hail of steel-jacketed bullets. She dove behind a rusted hunk of antique machinery, he opted for the relative safety of a porch roof. Deunan shook her head to cast the worst of the wet from her goggles and watched him climb the side of the building with silent skill. He ascended with uncanny ease despite his bulk. Scaling the second floor of the building, he settled on the peak like an oversized gargoyle, well above the tank's initial sensor sweep.

Too far away to answer her question properly, he did the honors instead. Shifting gear briefly he pointed skywards with an almost toy-like gun. The solid charge flamed to life fifty feet overhead, despite the downpour. On the other side of town, someone had the presence of mind to do the same. Two red flares burning merrily as they fell to earth, warning the main group that there was something nasty out in the fog.

Knowing any enemy attention would be drawn upwards at the bright sparklers, she crouched and crawled sideways around her hiding spot. Her reward was an extremely up close and personal view of the treads of a multi-turreted vehicle crawling forward through the fog. For a second, she felt panic well up, but even that had its uses. The surge of adrenaline warmed her rain-chilled muscles for the impending fight. Fingers moving before her brain really recognized what was happening, she had a high-heat sticky grenade out of her belt pouch and armed. Slamming it up against the primary support strut nearest to her nose, she pressed it down until it stuck fast. Deunan wasted no time in getting out of the way it as the charge started to blink, primed and counting.

Crouching as she made her way along the side of the long vehicle, she passed under two sensor arrays and to the back of the thing before deliberately throwing herself underneath the armored hide, mentally blessing the gods that had sent the instrument-blinding rain. It was a tight squeeze, but she didn't plan to stay long. Slapping another sticky grenade against what looked to be a backup power plant, she squirmed out from under the monster and promptly slipped on a wet section of pavement, sprawling clumsily against the hard ground. Immediately the closest gun turret swiveled in response to her noise, lasers painting her in preparation to shoot. Was there a human behind that gun? She wondered. Or was she about to be killed by a god-damned computer program?

"Deunan!" The heavy slam of Briareos' oversized ordinance had never sounded so good. She bit off cursing at herself as she observed her partner's shot. The slugs demolished the aft-gun's control motors even as it trained to focus on her. Deunan scrabbled to her hands and knees, pushing off and away from the platform as fast as she could in hopes of finding some cover before the fireworks started. Just because the gun couldn't aim correctly, didn't mean its operator wouldn't try for a lucky shot.

Overhead she could hear the platform trying to pick off her boyfriend in retaliation for his well-timed sniping. The roof, really the entire side of the building, he had been shooting from was trashed as several no-nonsense rounds were fired into the old stonework. Hearing the building fall, she hoped he'd had the sense to get the hell out of the way. At least the chaos provided her some cover. Seeing a likely pile of rubble, she threw herself behind it just as her first grenade did its swan song.

The front of the crawler exploded with a sound like a giant metallic fart. Bits of treads and gears sprayed out in half-melted insanity as the charge unleashed its lithium payload. Her second grenade detonated a moment later, actually lifting the back half of the segmented vehicle off the ground with the strength of the reaction between the explosive and the battery packs. Deunan laughed to herself at how pissed the driver would be at his crew now that he'd lost both auxiliary power and forward movement.

Her hiding spot didn't feel half so safe when the aft-guns opened fire at random, hammering her make-shift bunker and the building beside it with rock-crushing strength. Even worse, she realized that the side turret had greater mobility than she'd expected, swiveling to pick at her position with gravel-making results. Pinned on both sides by the vengeful tank, she swore and took a chance. Chucking her last grenade up and over the top of her meager shelter, she hoped it stuck to something important.

"Deunan?!" She could hear Briareos again, despite the noise. If he was free enough to worry about her instead of his own ass, he was either in a good position, or getting desperate.

"Back-left! Get this thing off of me!" She shouted, not worried about giving away her position. The thing already had her number.

Her grenade combusted with a satisfying boom; temporarily distracting the gunners who were trying to kill her with problems of their own. The explosion was magnified by a second bang, just as loud, from the front of the vehicle. Not of her doing, but of Bri's? Deunan covered her head with her arms as she was sprayed with painful prickles of debris. Thankfully none of it was sharp, but it was _hot_. She swatted the scorching droplets of metal off herself, trusting the wet to keep her from real harm. Briareos was still at work on the crawler. She heard the staccato rhythm of his strafing from the other side of the massive war machine.

"Briareos?!" She squinted into the rain and smoke, wondering where her goggles had gotten knocked to.

"What the hell are you waiting for, and invitation? Up and over, girl!" Her partner advised from the other side of the smoking platform. She blinked at the insanity of the instruction even as she did as he told her. Vaulting over her position she landed on the back of the now-smoldering tank. She took malicious pleasure in spiking the gun that had been spiritedly trying to kill her a moment before with a chunk of brick she'd picked up. Running forwards to shoot out the sensor array on the left turret she jammed it as well.

A painful sounding screech of metal just ahead proved that she wasn't alone. Briareos was shooting out sensors on the front of the tank, effectively blinding the mobile platform's driver. Discarding his spent rifle he opted for brute strength in continuing his attack, tearing one of the auxiliary guns off its mooring with his hands when it tried to turn on him. Continuing his swing forward with enviable economy of motion, her cyborg used his make-shift club to crush the head of an enemy that emerged from a hatch almost between his feet. Helmeted or not, a hundred kilos of heavy gauge steel pipe and fittings to the head was a killing blow. Deunan swore she could hear the man's gurgle of surprise as he died even with the firefight going on all around them. Briareos just continued doing what he did best, methodically drawing his semi-automatic from his back-holster as he discarded his more primitive weapon. He pointed the gun into the cheerful light of the hatch and casually sprayed the cabin below with bullets.

Deciding that it was no fair that he had all the fun, Deunan found a second hatch on the other side of the platform and tested the handle. It was locked from the inside. Patting her vest, she came up short on grenades, but did find a perfectly serviceable electrostatic mine. Beggars couldn't be choosers. She whistled and tossed it at her partner when he looked up. Catching the fistful of abuse out of the air, he barely spared it a look before arming it and dropping it into the opening beneath him. Cyborg that he was, he jumped backwards off the tank, putting necessary distance between himself and the specialized weapon.

For a human the mine could cause a nasty jolt but was hardly fatal. For cybernetic or circuit-enhanced systems, the tiny but powerful EM wave produced could really make for a bad day. Deunan checked her gun and slid into position next to the hatch, trying her best to ignore the water soaking every inch of her beneath her helmet. The nanobots in her body would probably keep her from catching pneumonia, but she was still sore, and tired, and wet. Only an idiot volunteered to fight in the rain. Only _she_ was dumb enough to volunteer to fight a multi-segmented cyborg-controlled tank in the rain, at night, with no backup.

If she survived this idiocy she was going to demand a day off once they got to camp. On probation as a 'new transfer' or not, they _owed_ her after this! Hell, they owed Briareos ten times over, but he was too nice a guy to stand on his rights and demand better treatment. She was sick and tired of them treating her boyfriend like a second-class citizen. When they reached camp she was going to do something about _that_ too. Drenched and fuming, she counted off the seconds in her head, waiting for the inevitable panic within.

The hatch popped open at her elbow, the last of the platform's crew all but stepping on each other as they sought to escape Briareos' little parting gift before it went off. Deunan shot the first at point blank, leaning around the suddenly flailing body to shoot the cyborg right behind it in the throat. The third enemy saw her coming and was able to duck out of range, returning fire with his own weapons. She felt something graze her neck and pulled back out of the way. He was too much trouble to try and pick off. Happily, in bolting from her, the poor bastard had completely forgotten why he wanted to get out in the first place. Deunan smiled as the EM mine screeched and exploded, unleashing electrical chaos as it deployed.

Deunan felt the electricity crackle over her wet skin and clothing, but pressed against the massive metal surface of the tank, she considered herself well grounded against anything serious. The raindrops around her arced briefly with tiny lightning as the static dissipated.

"You're clear!" She called to Briareos as she twisted to point her gun back into the hollows of the weapons' system, checking for any survivors.

Her partner landed heavily on the metal plate beside her, stretching an extendible into the tank from the upper hatch. Seeing something worth shooting, he sank a few rounds into one of the bodies below before lowering himself into the machinery. "I'm plugging in. Let's see if this big bastard of a machine has any secrets to tell…"

"Watch for booby traps." She advised, squeezing herself over the corpse half blocking her hatch. Being able to get out of the rain for a moment was wonderful, even given the stench of smoked electronics. A quick check of the command center proved there were no other hidden compartments or obvious sabotage, but the platform was scrapped. For the best, she resigned herself. The treaded crawlers were too slow for her unit to use effectively, and riding in them tended to make her motion sick. Some of the communications gear might be worth salvaging, however, she glanced around, taking inventory. Some of the cyborgs had some interesting add-ons.

She kicked the closest body until it rolled over and bent to investigate, not wanting to interrupt her partner while he was fighting with the tank's software. The big systems on the other 'borgs she couldn't see him having a use for. His arms and legs were made superior to most anything they'd found on the field thus far. But a few spare mini motor-controllers were never a bad thing. And he was always scratching the crap out of his lenses. Reaching down, she detached one of the encoder assemblies from the body she was sitting on, holding it up to the light in order to guess whether it'd be a good match for Briareos' system. Deciding she could pocket it for him to look at later, she took a second encoder off the corpse before helping herself to his ammo and a good-sized hipflask of what smelled like brandy. A second corpse produced a rather handsome stun gun. The third by Briareos' feet had keys to the munitions locker.

Deunan cackled softly as she opened the cache up and got an eyeful of the contents. Some kind soul had even left her nice bag to carry all the goodies away in. She checked over the available weapons and ammo as she dumped as much as was worth taking into the sack.

The computer screens above her abruptly ceased scrolling data and began to flash Asian characters on a red background. She didn't need to read them to understand their meaning. Briareos must have found something particularly sensitive in his digging around. Her cyborg jerked back and clutched his head as the computer system attempted to defend itself against his Hecatonchires system. She gave him a few seconds to see if he could get the upper hand and then opted for the safer, if not necessarily more comfortable option. Deunan reached up and yanked his pickups free of the panel before they could short out. "Briareos!"

"Ow." He staggered backwards into the command chair and sank into it, rubbing his head. "Mother fucker, that hurt."

"You alright?" She cinched her bag shut, ignoring the blinking red lights now filling the cabin. Her partner retracted his leads into their usual storage nest in his neck, but still rubbed at his head, ignoring her in favor of trying to unscramble his wits.

"Fine girl. I'm fine." Briareos pulled himself together and answered her, reaching out and cupping her cheek in silent thanks even as he looked around. He froze as he stared at the screens. "Oh shit."

"What?" She couldn't make anymore sense of the text than she had a moment before. But some of the symbols had a distinctly numerical feel about them as they clicked regularly in a series on the screen. "Don't tell me…." She sighed.

Briareos scooped her up for the second time in what felt like twenty minutes. Hoisting her onto his shoulder, bag and all, he vaulted up and out of the self-destructing war machine. Deunan concentrated on hanging on, fingers finding the straps for his holster across his back and clinging to them as he made an earnest effort to put as much distance between them and the tank as possible. Mercifully, after the first few spine-jarring landings, he shifted her off his shoulder and against his chest, sprinting across the nominally flat ground. His strides became considerably less tooth-rattling as his hands supported her neck and head. Knowing what was coming she didn't bother trying to find the voice to complain. She curled into ball in his arms, trying to allow him maximum freedom of movement while bracing for the boom.

The tank went up in a roar of red and white. The concussive force of the explosion managed to push Briareos off his feet, despite his weight. Deunan winced as she felt the heat of the air wrapping around them, propelling them forward. She didn't want to think of how many karma points they'd just cashed in to survive the near miss. Briareos rolled with the blow over, keeping her tucked in relative safety against his chest, as he crashed to the ground.

He came to rest in the mud with a groan.

"You really pissed it off but good!" She found the breath to tease as he let go. Taking moment to check herself over she saw nothing worrying, and so turned her attention to him instead. "Let me check you for damage, big guy."

"I'm ok. All systems green." He sat up slowly, shaking his head as if dazed. "Damn that was close."

"Find anything useful in there?" Deunan climbed out of his lap in order to check his back, seeing for herself that he was unharmed by the explosion. His shirt was scorched, and his skin hot to the touch, but there was no sign of shrapnel or other injury. The rain hissed as it pelted down on him, probably doing his cooling system a favor by doing the work for it.

"I found their weather forecast." He joked tiredly. "Eighty percent chance of rain."

"Ha ha." She checked and rechecked the area around their hiding spot but didn't see anything amiss.

Either their team had beaten off the other cyborgs already, or they had moved their fight further back towards the main army. They'd be obliged to go and check soon, but she was all for taking a two-minute breather first. Now that the adrenaline was fading, she wondered what the hell they'd been thinking to even try taking on the tank. Deunan unbuckled her helmet, pushing it back off her head and onto her shoulders, not caring that the rain was now soaking her hair. The water felt good against her overheated scalp. Reaching out, she ran an appreciative hand over Briareos' head and down the back of his neck, wiping water and mud away with the side of her glove. He looked a mess, she sighed. They both did.

Luckily her hard-headed lover didn't seem to mind the soot that had to be covering her face as well. He pulled her closer to where he sat, guiding her into an abrupt kiss. She sagged into his arms, more than happy to oblige him as her muscles reminded her pointedly that she'd been walking all day _before_ picking fights in the rain. In all the excitement she'd forgotten how tired she was. Briareos kissed her again, warm and solid and steady beneath her trembling fingers as she clung to his shoulders, kissing him back. He pulled her into his lap to pet her hair and shoulders a moment before leaning back and shaking her gently. "Don't you _ever_ go throwing yourself under a tank like that again."

"You make it sound like I was diving under the treads or something." She laughed weakly up at him. "I wasn't in any danger of being run over."

"Oh no?" He shook her again. "What if the morons had thrown it into reverse, huh? What if there'd been anti-guerrilla systems on the underside of the chassis? You could have been flattened, or worse."

"I wasn't." Deunan grinned at his fussing, tasting the smoke as the rain bathed her face. "Besides, you're the one who told me how nicely those battery packs responded to heat-grenades. You can't go telling me stories like that and not expect me to want to see for myself."

"God damn it." He shook his head, casting water in all directions. "You're incorrigible."

"Yup." She pushed herself up enough to kiss his nose. "That's me."

"But you're not invincible, Deunan." Briareos chided softly, running a finger along her cheek. "For the sake of my blood-pressure, try to remember that? Occasionally? You nearly gave me a heart attack with that stunt just now."

"Okay okay. I read you. I'm sorry. That was some nice shooting, by the way." She complimented him playfully, standing again. "I owe you. I thought I was a gonner."

"Uh huh." Her cyborg stood as well, his pants liberally smeared in mud. "You were positively shaking in your boots. I know."

'I don't know if I'd go _that far_." Deunan winked at his sarcasm and checked her weapons, gesturing that he could take point for a while. "Shall we see what's left of our patrol?"

"Worth doing a walk around before heading back to the highway." He agreed mildly. Two steps around the corner and he stooped, picking up something by his feet only to turn and toss it to her as he stood again. "For you."

Deunan caught his offering by reflex, not able to see well enough in the dark to recognize the gift until it was in her hands. She laughed at the sight of her missing goggles. Half caked with mud it was hard to be sure that they'd survived their ordeal intact, but it was nice to have them back again. She draped them around her neck, resolved to double-check the electronics for functionality after cleaning them thoroughly. Thinking of her goggles reminded her about their orphaned coats too. She gestured mutely her intention before slogging back through the empty town center towards where they'd begun, leaving him to the grim chore of checking the corpses of any friendlies they passed and pulling the tags.

"How many?" She asked softly as she balled up his poncho along with hers under her arm. Neither of them was going to get any drier putting the capes on now. She resigned herself to a long wet walk to wherever they were going. Briareos reached out and settled a hand on the back of her neck, sympathizing with her exhaustion, or just avoiding the question. Deunan leaned into his touch for a moment, acknowledging his caress, then asked again. "How many did we lose, Bri?"

"Looks like about half." He pointed at the churned mud in front of them, voice going from grim to mildly amused. "Looks like the other half assumed _we_ bought it at the hands of the tank."

"If they're picking through my stuff when we get back, I'm going to be pissed."

"We'll get back a lot faster if you let me carry you." He offered.

Deunan frowned. She didn't like exploiting Briareos' strength on general principles, proud of her own hard-earned stamina, and unwilling to treat him differently from anyone else. It was bad enough everyone else making assumptions about what he would or wouldn't do, would or wouldn't _like_. It just wasn't his style to bitch when asked to do something that wasn't fair. Deunan knew he wouldn't change, so she made it a point to do that complaining for him. Finding uniforms that fit correctly, ensuring he had a bed that wasn't half-sized, reminding quartermasters to keep a stock of bare necessities like oil and rubber conditioner, telling off commanders who expected him to haul and hoist like some sort of dumb robot, and of course ensuring that he not being forced to give random lazy slackers piggyback rides when they got tired, it was all part of her full-service girlfriend package. She laughed to herself.

There was 'proud of her independence', and then there was 'stupidly stubborn'. She hoped she wasn't the later. Weighing her choices, she found she wasn't ashamed to opt for the expedient answer. "You volunteering?" She checked with him. "You don't get paid extra for hauling my ass through this shit. You've done quite enough hero-ing this evening, no need to play pack mule as well."

Briareos sighed audibly. "For once, will you just let me help you without reading anything deeper into it?" He turned and scooped her up in his arms again, not waiting for her answer. "If I didn't want to carry you, I wouldn't offer."

Closing her eyes, she let him settle her against his shoulder, hugging her bag of goodies to her chest. Sad that the loot was the driest thing to be had anywhere on the two of them, she realized. Protectively sheltered both by her boyfriend's bulk and a double layer of raincoats, her found-swag would make the trip from tank to camp in perfect condition. Pity the same couldn't be said for them. She felt utterly spent. Still, at least the rain was slacking a little. She peered ahead as visibility improved slightly. Briareos' body moved rhythmically with his slow lope down the highway, the motion almost sleep-inducing after her long day. She willed herself to stay awake as they played catch-up with the rest of the team, organizing her tired thoughts for the report they'd be obliged to make on arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

-Reconnaissance – (part2)

An Appleseed fanfic

Characters & universe created by Masamune Shirow.

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BRIAREOS

One of the few perks to getting in after the rest of the team was that there was plenty of space in the back of the command truck for them to wedge in and sit down. The other scouts had returned to the march but they were able to ride high and dry the last mile into camp while being debriefed on what they'd seen. Briareos had no doubt that the officers would send another scout party back out to confirm what they had found. Even with Deunan too dead on her feet to speak with any of her usual energy, the tale of their battle sounded pretty crazy. Too damned stubborn to sit back and rest while he took care of the details, his woman had delivered a remarkably pithy summary for the astounded brass while he found himself delegated to 'talking' to the computers. It had taken all of a moment to upload the few encrypted files he'd been able to scalp before the tank had taken offense at his hacking and blown itself up.

Navigating from truck to muster, from muster to tent in the foggy darkness was easier perhaps for a cyborg than for the punchdrunk infantry around him. He didn't waste energy on sympathy for the rank and file, concentrating instead on steering Deunan through the mob and to their bunk assignment with the least amount of fuss. Acres of tents on wooden platforms stretched around the side of the hill. The ring roads were lettered, the individual platforms numbered, forming a sort of rough grid system. His girl was too stubborn to be carried a second time, but she didn't shake off the hand he kept on her shoulder as he herded her through the chaos towards their row.

Ducking into the musty smelling space beneath the durable canvas, he sighed at the minimal accommodations. A cot was about as useless for him as a bicycle, neither being designed to hold the weight of his frame. At least he'd be able to roll out his sleeping mat on smooth plywood rather than gravel. There were spare blankets stacked on the edge of the folding table pressed into the back of the cramped space. Looking down at the water streaming off his arms, and at Deunan's sodden appearance, he weighed their worth as towels rather than as bedding. Still the small bunk was dry, and relatively warm, they'd had worse.

Crouching down, he nudged the small heater into doing something more than just sitting uselessly in the corner. Deunan dropped her bag and sat on it with a wet sound, working on her bootlaces one foot at a time. Spared the nuisance of shoes, he was able to release the clips on his own cleats and kick the heavy wearing plates off to the side where they wouldn't get tripped over. Finding a clothesline in the tent's kit box, he strung it up over the stove on the vain hope that _something_ they owned might be dry by morning. Briareos checked his internal chronometer and shook his head. It _was_ almost morning. If some stiff-necked staff sergeant came by before he sacked out and told him he was on patrol duty before noon, he was going to be pissed as hell. Shirt and pants he threw over the line, turning to Deunan to collect the same from her. She had anticipated him. Dropping a dripping mass of fabric into his hands, she wordlessly dug through her bag for a dryer under-layer to change into. Seeing her wet and nearly naked ought to have been a turn on, but being able to see more of her skin than he had in almost a month only made him realize just how much she'd put up with. His girl was down to muscle and bone. The small fluorescent light that allowed her to navigate their tent only made the hollows at the base of her throat and above her hips more pronounced, the shadows under her eyes darker.

"Take a cot?" He gestured that she could take her pick. Deunan picked up a blanket and toweled herself briskly with it before wrapping it around her body for warmth. Pulling the bedding off of the first cot, and then the second, she flipped the pair of narrow bunks flat and stacked them off to one side. Briareos shook his head as she ignored his advice and set herself to making them a pallet on the floor. A minor adjustment of his power supplies, and he didn't really need a towel. Water evaporated slowly from his warming skin as he fished in his bag for his spare uniform, pulling it on as soon as he was dry enough to keep it from sticking. Not above doing something nice for his exhausted woman, he waited until she sat up from her work, resting on her knees, before sinking down behind her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Deunan gasped at the heat radiating from him and promptly leaned back against his chest, seeking to drape herself against his warmth.

"If you're going to keep me company down on the floor, the least I can do is put up with your icy feet." He nuzzled her damp hair as she limply rested against him. Sensing no complaint from his girl, Briareos scooped her up in his arms and settled them both against the floor, letting her curl up in a huddle against his side, and soak up the spare heat he was generating. Pulling the majority of the blankets over her as well, he tried to ignore the fact that he could feel her spine beneath his fingers.

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Briareos picked his way across camp, attentive to the nastier stretches of mud. Early morning after the rain made the whole area look particularly sorrowful. He was glad he had talked Deunan into staying near their tent. Better that she get a chance to sit and enjoy her coffee for once than force herself to pull together a presentable uniform from their still damp gear and join him for a follow-up meeting with the powers that be. Taking turns being called onto the carpet for what they did, or didn't do, was part of what their partnership was all about.

Remembering how his girl had looked when she crawled out of bed earlier, he reminded himself that partners were supposed to take care of each other as well. She'd looked bad. Not sick – Deunan was too tough for that, even without the help of her nanomachines – but she wasn't well either. Pale and thin, and bruised around the eyes with exhaustion, he wondered if he would have recognized her if she hadn't smiled at him. The woman sharing his tent was about as far from the girl he knew as he'd ever seen. Something would have to be done, and soon, or she really would fall ill.

Ducking his head to avoid a low doorframe, he let himself into the prefabricated command hut and allowed the aide to point him to where the brass sat waiting. He could have set his watch by the precise timing of their obligatory small talk. Exactly three minutes of 'I'm glad you've had a chance to settle in' levels of official bullshit and the quartet of officers turned to their briefing reports as one, going through every line of Deunan's already concise transcript and questioning him on the particulars. Size, weight, weapons, crew, they picked his brain for the better part of an hour in regards to his rain drenched memories of the tank's capabilities. Briareos did the best he could to satisfy them, glad that it was him and not his girl getting grilled. He had no doubt that she'd been too close to the monstrous weapon's platform to care about much of anything other than blowing the shit out of it. As he'd had the relative luxury of sitting back and snipping at it, he at least could provide a general overview of what he'd seen.

At length the officers had turned to the monitor on the wall beside him, bringing up the morning's aerial photographs and asking him to outline the general layout of the town and wreckage. Chafing at the wasted time, he reiterated his story a third time, this time with appropriate pointers as to where they were and how the team deployed. When asked what the others were doing while he and Deunan had played cat-and-mouse with a hundred ton gun platform he'd answered the only way that was honest. He had no idea what the rest of the team had done. It had been too foggy to see much of anything. Wondering if he was royally screwing a teammate over with his report, he ventured to guess they were busy taking care of the other ground forces, but the officers on the other side of the briefing table neither confirmed nor denied it. He tried not to feel awkward at the handful of backhanded compliments the older officers paid him for being an especially talented civilian trained operative, and stood as three out of four men exited the room. Briareos wondered what the hard-asses would have said if he confessed that before his life in S.W.A.T. he had been on Interpol's most wanted, but it was a childish whim and quickly squelched.

His battle group commander waved him back into his chair with a tired smile as soon as the door closed behind the higher ups. "That was very well done, officer Hecatonchires. I confess I thought your partner was exaggerating when she described the platform as over eighty tons, but looking at _that_," he pointed at the screen. "I imagine it was at least an eight man crew, possibly it could have held twice that many fully loaded."

"Its possible." Briareos agreed cautiously. "Pretty unlikely though. It'd slow down to a crawl with that many cyborgs on board, especially with the ground as soft as it was."

"And you and your partner took it down with six grenades and an EM mine?" His commander leaned back in his chair, "I don't know whether you two are brilliant, or insane."

"She would probably tell you we're a little of both." He shrugged. "We got lucky. They weren't expecting anyone to take the offensive, and the rain provided and unexpected amount of cover for close work."

"They were expecting you to do just what the others did. You were meant to be scouts, not a heavy ordnance strikeforce." The major shook his head. "When you didn't turn tail and run, they probably didn't know _what_ to do." Giving him a thoughtful look, the officer tapped his fingers on his desk. "So tell me, what is this camp's single most outspoken pro-cyborg activist doing carrying around an EM pulse-mine in her pocket? Those are not standard issue for _our_ army. How the hell did she come by it?"

"Probably scalped it off a corpse, same way we get the rest of our decent weapons." Briareos snorted. "Given that most of our opponents are either cybernetically enhanced or outright machines, it seemed a handy thing to hang on to."

"You knew she had it all along?" His commander looked at him in amazement. "And you weren't worried?"

"Lt. Knute sleeps with a loaded assault rifle under her pillow too." He pointed out in reply. "She hasn't shot me yet. A weapon is only as dangerous as the person holding it wants it to be. I'd prefer my partner hanging on to something like an EM mine over just about anyone else in camp. She at least knows how to handle them carefully."

"I take it she's resting this morning?" The major set aside his paperwork to lean forwards on his elbows. He smiled briefly as Briareos nodded. "That's good. She looked pretty strung out when you both came in. Have her go to medical for a once over if she doesn't improve by tomorrow. I won't have the best duo in my command taken down by some obscure lung infection."

Briareos didn't bother to remind the man that Deunan had a full complement of micromachine implants, a convenient legacy from her S.W.A.T. days. It didn't do to get the idea in the officer's head that she was more indestructible than she was. Her reputation for being able to walk off just about anything was already a little too prevalent for his liking. It was more than a little responsible for her current exhaustion, since she couldn't or wouldn't back down from taking on anything that _he_ volunteered for, as well as those missions she was ordered into. Trying to remind her that he was a cyborg, and therefore was supposed to have higher stamina had been singularly unsuccessful.

"You'll tell her that I'm putting you both in for a pay grade increase." The major continued. "I'm putting recommendations for promotion in your files as well, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. The pay increase is probably going to be pretty pitiful, but it'll take effect at the end of the month. I figure it's the least I can do. You've been working well above and beyond all expectations. With ten more teams like you two, this war would be over in a month."

Briareos was glad that he didn't still have his human face, because he doubted he'd have been able to keep from grimacing at that unwanted compliment. Ten more of him? Ten more of Deunan? Even if they worked themselves to death, they wouldn't make the slightest dent in the war. The memory of L.A. in flames after the bombing runs was still fresh in his mind. The city hadn't stood a chance of holding ground against the wave of aircraft that had come in over the harbor. They'd lost a third of the police force all in one afternoon, either from the initial explosions, or in fighting the fires and riots that had come after. Having gratitude from the military for being a good soldier felt like the worst kind of selling out. Getting mad about it wouldn't change the fact that he'd been drafted into the army just like every other able bodied man and woman in the police not required to assist with the evacuation. It didn't mean he had to like it though.

"If you really want to thank us for cleaning out the trap, there is _something_ I would really appreciate." Briareos surprised himself by speaking up.

His girl was rubbing off on him perhaps. Usually he found effusive praise from his superiors to be either uncomfortable or uncalled for. Tired, filthy, and in a real camp for the first time in months, he found himself stooping to use it for leverage. Needs must as the devil drives, he told himself. If they were going to pretend to be grateful for his murdering people in the name of their causes, the least they could do was provide a little blood money for his trouble. There were some things that he was flat-out tired of living with for months on end without complaint, and he had Deunan to consider as well.

His commander looked at him in surprise. "Is there? I'm afraid we're short on… just about everything. But if it's in my power to grant, it's yours.

"A trailer."

"A what?" The officer blinked, not following.

Briareos shrugged, already feeling stupid for asking. It was too late to back out now without garnering an even stranger look. Undoubtedly the officer had been expecting demands for new weapons, armor, or parts. Not that he'd have said no, if there were any available, but what he was really hoping for was something a bit more intangible. "Those little VIP cabins. This camp has twenty of them, doesn't it? For brass that comes through, or civilian liaisons?"

"Yes." His commander blinked again. "You want to be assigned one of the prefab units for your in-camp bunk space? That's not a short order, lieutenant. Not even _I_ get one of those. They're meant for long-term base commanders and the like. Not grunts like us. Besides, it'd be a little _cramped_ for you… wouldn't it?"

"I'll manage." Briareos demurred. "If it's clean, dry, and quiet, I'll put up with a tight fit. You said 'anything'. Well, I want trailer, for at least a few days. And double-ration tickets for myself and my partner would be great as well. Swing both of those, and we'd count ourselves pretty well rewarded for any service above-and-beyond recently. If the trailer's not available, I'll take the rations and an upgraded tent. Keep the pay raise, we'll take it in time off instead. Lt. Knute needs at least two days rest before she'll be fit for action again preferably a week. So if you excuse me I'm going to go tie her down so that she gets it."

"I'll see what I can do." The major looked at him as if he'd grown a second head as he stood and saluted, making his exit.

Briareos didn't bother to ask whether the man would do as he wanted, opting to quit while he was ahead. It was one thing to tell the upper officers their business in regards to how to interpret findings from patrol or combat, he knew he had pushed his luck in telling the man how to do his job in camp. Still, he wasn't above crossing his fingers as he cut back across camp to where he and Deunan had been assigned tent space. She was right where he'd left her. Her mug dangled from limp fingers as she sat on the edge of the tent's raised wooden platform; head in hand. Briareos sat wordlessly beside her and pulled her shoulders until she leaned into his lap. His girl put up little resistance, eyes drifting closed as she sank against him and pillowed her head on his thigh. No sense getting her hopes up, he told himself as he petted her hair, sympathizing with her exhaustion. They had shift in two hours, unless the brass were especially thoughtful and rearranged the schedule before then. He resolved to let her cat nap until then.

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He found her, after yet another morning meeting, in the commissary. Deunan was bartering with a tired looking woman at the inventory counter for toothbrushes of all things. Briareos silently wondered if his girl had finally gone off the deep-end as he saw her trade away a flask of perfectly good brandy and a seemingly never-used shock-stick for a fist full of the mundane kit supplies. His curiosity was piqued a little further at the more obscure items the clerk put on the counter. A canister of compressed air and a canister of spray-graphite were not exactly items of everyday use for most people.

"Planning on doing some small engine repair, little missy?" He inquired as she tucked her acquisitions away.

Deunan grinned up at him in wan pleasure. "Something like that. Where've you been this morning?"

"Talking with the staff sergeant about a change of digs." He stuffed his hands in his pocket, feeling the crinkle of the ration coupons. It was a good thing he'd gotten them. His woman wasn't any less thin despite their return to camp. He didn't like how gaunt her face had gotten. They'd been pushing hard for the past month, and the supply chain had broken down completely more than once. Deunan was too slim and too high energy to go skipping many meals without it directly impacting her body fat. She needed feeding up with real food and some proper rest in a bed, before they went back out into the field. Luckily, fate had put his way the ideal means for doing both. "You up for a bit of relocating?"

"We're not staying with the team?" Deunan raised an eyebrow at him as they strolled through the camp, correctly supposing he had pulled in a favor or two. "What have you got in the works, handsome?"

"Just a little something I like to call R&R." He produced one of the coupons from his pocket and waved it in front of her nose, enjoying the chance to surprise her with good news for a change. Her eyes lit up as soon as she realized what he held. Reflexes still plenty quick despite her exhausted appearance, Deunan snatched the chit from his fingers studying it with genuine pleasure.

"You're serious?" She stared at him speculatively. "This is for me?"

"And a real bed, for a change. Although I may have to demand that you share it." He made a show of rolling his shoulders. "I may be made of metal, but I don't find sleeping on the ground _that_ comfortable."

"You got me a bed?" Deunan continued to stare at him, smile playing at the corner of her lips. "To what do I owe this windfall?"

"You've noone to blame but yourself." He ruffled her hair. "The brass seem to think you're worth the money if you're going to go single-handedly blowing up tanks."

"Funny." His girl looked away, "I remember having some help at the time."

"Like I said. I'm going to demand at least one night in that bed." Briareos ruffled her hair again. "But today I'm all for watching you eat your bodyweight in food and passing out."

"Look that good, do I?" Deunan smiled grimly. "You don't have to worry about me, old man. I know I've lost some weight, but I'll get it back soon enough. Personally, what I'd kill for is a proper shower with towels and soap, but there's fat chance of getting that around here."

"Ye of little faith." He settled in front of their tent, packing what they'd spread around to personalize the space. It took pathetically little effort to fit everything he owned back into his carryall. "Come and see for yourself what your thoughtful and compassionate partner has scrounged for you!"

"You're not pulling my leg?" Deunan set her bag down to stare at him in earnest, too stunned to follow his example. "You've found me a shower?"

"With towels, no less. You'll have to provide your own soap, but you just bought some, didn't you?" He looked up at her, realizing for the first time that her hair was not only windblown and disheveled after days of trekking, but actually the wrong color, almost grey. Soot, he reminded himself, from the tank. She'd been living with sooty hair and rain-mildewed clothes for two days since their insane little skirmish. No wonder why the shower was more tempting than the food.

He could have kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. Being a cyborg, the worst he had to worry about in waiting for his turn to use the pitiful communal 'wash house' was the audible hiss of the dust in his gears. Most of the obvious shit wiped off of his skin with little effort, leaving him tidy looking, if not fresh feeling. Deunan had been patiently waiting her turn for a chance under the sad dribble the camp called a shower since their arrival. The expression on her face made him acutely uncomfortable. She looked almost as if she might cry.

"Pack." He told her firmly. "Double-rations means that you also get a double daily water allowance. You can scrub as long as you want while I go stand in line and get us something decadent for dinner.

"Yeah. Ok." She blinked, turning to inspect their little tent, biting her lip. "Ok. Give me five minutes."

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It was hard to remind himself on his return that he had altruistic reasons for demanding the executive quarters. He forgot all about the annoyance of standing in line and the hassle of getting the transfer together as soon as he saw Deunan puttering around outside their trailer. Standing like an idiot, arms full of dinner, he could only gape in surprise at the sight of his woman hanging out various bits of laundry on a line strung between their trailer and the next. Scrubbed pink, golden blonde, and wearing nothing more than one of his dress shirts belted at her waist, she looked sexier than he'd seen her in months. Almost a year, he realized as he counted backwards. He forced himself to stop staring at her legs, and moved to help her as she fumbled with his spare pair of pants. "You were supposed to be selfishly showering with that water ration, little woman. Not doing our laundry."

"I showered." She protested with a grin, standing back to inspect her handiwork. "But I also I wanted something clean to wear afterwards, so I bought half fresh, half recycled water. Enough of the good stuff for a double scrub for me, and plenty left over of the regular besides."

Deunan eyed him thoughtfully, clearly taking in the travel stains and wrinkles on the uniform he was wearing. "What you have on is the only thing left to scrub. Remind me to strip you later?"

"That a promise?" He teased, handing over the boxes of high-grade rations he'd acquired. "Here, this ought to last you a meal or two." She whisked his forage into the tiny building to investigate as he carefully kicked the mud from his cleats. With her looking good enough to shock the senses, he was reminded of how grimy he felt. It was almost criminal to enter the tidy little trailer as dusty as he was.

"Where'd you get the clothespins from anyway?" He wondered aloud as he eased through the door and navigated to their table. God, when had a table and chairs become a luxury for him? He sat down with a happy sigh, reminding himself of the trappings of civilization, as modest as they were.

Deunan was humming to herself as she produced plates and cups from the cupboards and set herself to cutting the apples into sections. Popping the first slice into her mouth, she set the rest of the plate in front of him with a wink. "Borrowed'em from Marty next door, nice woman, a bit of a technology-nut though. She runs the communications center."

"You're already meeting the neighbors?" He shook his head in amazement. "Don't get too cozy, we aren't permanent residents, you know."

Deunan made a face. "Yeah. Apparently this is one of the 'guest' cottages, she tells me. When she saw me doing laundry she thought that I was someone's 'extra perk' and gave me an earful. I explained to her that it was the first chance I'd had to scrub my uniform in a month. Then she felt bad and lent me the pins…" Leering at him as she dished up rice and a double helping of stew for each of them, she couldn't help but tease. "Am I your 'extra perk', handsome?"

"I confess, seeing you wearing _that_ I almost wondered the same thing." He snorted in amusement, applying himself to his plate. "Looks considerably more fetching on you than on me." He offered, catching her sour look. His woman smirked again, mollified by the compliment. Briareos pushed the remaining apple wedges towards her as she sat, encouraging her to have the rest. She tucked into her own plateful with a happy sigh.

Soon too busy eating to need further conversation, she devoured her portion and helped herself to a second plateful, pausing only to point to his empty dish in silent inquiry. He shook his head, full enough, content to let her lay into his remaining share.

Deunan ate quickly and methodically under his worried inspection. Where she had room inside for the oversized meal was anyone's guess. He studied her hands and face as he toyed with a slice of apple. Wishing there was more he could do for her. Even with his oversized shirt concealing her arms and body, it was clear she was well below her usual fighting weight. Probably the rest of the army was just as bad. They'd all been skipping a few too many meals since crossing the mountains. Most of the guys he talked to were glad to be based inland. The fighting wasn't as fierce away from the coast. In his opinion, the easier action just meant that was nothing worth fighting over in their region. It cost the enemy nothing to let them kill themselves with exposure out in the badlands.

Eventually they would have to break north, or south, he mused. They'd join up with the crews in Canada perhaps. Or they might make a push into the Mexican territories, down where the land was still fertile and the Pacific alliance didn't have drones blanketing the coast. It wasn't his decision. But if this unit didn't move soon, he was seriously thinking about volunteering himself and Deunan for a transfer into a hotter combat zone just to get them into a slightly better situation. He didn't foresee his girl complaining about the danger. Of the pair of them, she never seemed to worry about the risks involved with fighting in a war. It was almost impossible most days to make her recognize her own mortality. For the promise of regular meals and unrationed water, she'd probably volunteer to airdrop herself on top of enemy lines wielding only a pointed stick.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The object of his speculation raised her eyebrows at him, wiping the last of the sauce off her plate with a finger. "You're awfully quiet."

"Just admiring the scenery." He teased lightly.

She rolled her eyes at him in response, reclaiming his plate and stacking it under hers to set them both in the sink. Leaning against the counter, she stretched slowly, and sighed, looking well contented. "We have patrol tonight? Or are we really on leave for a while?"

"Forty-eight hours, until our next duty assignment." He leaned back in his chair, enjoying the chance to just sit and talk. "Then afternoon patrols daily for the next week. This we get to keep for two weeks, if we aren't ousted in favor of someone with more stripes or stars than us." Gesturing around their tiny little lodging with a finger he let her digest the happy news before sharing the less pleasant facts of life. "Premium-grade double-rations I was only able to wheedle for one week. But that's just how it goes."

Far from disappointed, Deunan grinned broadly. "More than a week of eating like this and I'll become flabby and disgusting anyway. Another day and everything we own will be clean, and I'll be able to squeeze in another shower… More than that will be pure decadence." Tilting her head to the side, she studied him closely. "I can't picture you wheedling though. What did you threaten them with?"

"A very unhappy cyborg?" He reached out to her, claiming her hand and tugging her towards his chair with a gentle yank. She obliged him with a huff. Standing she was taller than him, but not by all that much. He leaned against her shoulder, inhaling her clean scent as she readily draped her arms around his neck. "It's good to remind them occasionally," he turned his face to kiss the corner of her jaw. "That expertise like ours doesn't come cheap."

"Expertise like _yours_." She corrected happily, "I'm selling 'crazy,' myself. It's less work, and keeps the guys hoping to cop a feel on their toes."

"We come as a set." Briareos reminded her. "Partners, remember?"

She nodded, face pressed against the top of his head as she hugged him. He hugged her back, wishing that he wasn't entirely coated in crap. Likely, he was making her grimy again just by touching her.

For the first time in months they had a surplus of food, shelter, and some genuine privacy. The last was the luxury he had missed the most. Their tent had just been too damned cramped, not to mention that they'd either been obliged to share it with random people, or had bivouacked so closely packed together that everyone heard everyone else's business. Wanting to enjoy more than just cuddling with Deunan was more than counterbalanced by the knowledge that everyone else in hearing distance would be speculating about her afterwards. Hard enough for Deunan to be in the minority in a fighting unit, she didn't need the bullshit that came with being seen as a sex-object too. He caught even the most straight-laced guys staring hungrily at her after a month or two away from civilization. There was no need to encourage trouble by flaunting the fact that they were together.

He didn't like to think of himself as a misogynist, but he was grimly grateful that chance had brought her into his team already firmly established as 'his girl'. A sad standard for the world they now lived in that it was safer for Deunan to be seen as belonging to a cyborg soldier, with all the attendant rumor and superstition about how he was probably a little unhinged as well as unstoppable, than for her to stand on her own. If he was still the flesh and blood he'd once been, Briareos suspected he'd have had some serious brawls on his hands in order to maintain his 'claim' on her. So far just threatening the more persistent of her pests had been enough, but every time he let her out of sight, he found himself worrying.

For her part, Deunan had done what she could to nip unwanted attention in the bud. Always capable of flaying a man to the bone with her sharp tongue, she'd given up most of her feminine habits on being drafted. She wore the same uniforms as the boys did, performed the same drills, wore her hair shorter than ever, and refrained from her usual flirting. She'd rapidly established her own reputation as 'untouchable' by breaking her first aggressive suitor's arm. The second officer to make a move on her had found himself on the business end of her sidearm.

They'd somehow managed to pull it off so far. He played the part of jealous and humorless boyfriend. She took on the roll of fiercely loyal verging on psychotic girlfriend. And it had worked. Their regular circle of teammates had come to take it for granted that they were a pair, and stopped actively making trouble, even if they couldn't entirely stop staring. It was only in camp that his worries came back full-force. There were thousands of people, from hundreds of teams, all mashed into close quarters. Sure there were more women around in general, but with the camp followers and officers mixing, someone was bound to mistake her for 'available' despite all their hard work.

Deunan was no innocent in need of protecting from the world, but gangs happened, and he didn't want to see one happening to her. Given that they worked, ate, slept together whenever opportunity allowed, there hadn't been too many chances for any nastiness to crop up. But not letting his guard down came at the price of more than one sleepless night next to her. No sense spoiling the carefully cultivated reputations they'd both developed just to satisfy libido? He wondered if Deunan felt the same way. They hadn't really planned the last six months. The roles they'd assigned themselves just seemed to come naturally. Did she miss the sex as much as he did? Or did she prefer their relationship the way it had become?

He wished he'd talked to her about it sooner. Especially with his fingers now itching to pull his woman's makeshift dress over her shoulders in order to reacquaint himself with every inch of her tempting skin. Strange to think the scent of soap would become such an aphrodisiac. Briareos kissed her neck. His subconscious was already happily fantasizing about her, clean and warm as she wrapped her legs around his waist. How long had it been since he'd last heard her begging him to screw her senseless? His hands slid lower on her back, enjoying the rare opportunity to just hold her, exploring the tight curves of her waist and hips. For her part, Deunan pressed her lips against his forehead in a gentle kiss, arms comfortably tight around his neck as she rested against him, turning her head slightly as she yawned.

He felt like a dick for even fantasizing about sex when she was still so obviously worn down. Telling his subconscious to knock it off, he forced himself to stop petting her thighs in favor of being a gentleman and keeping his fingers safely on the fabric of her 'dress'. Stick to the plan, he told himself. He'd promised himself to see that she slept and ate properly for a few days. Sex had been only a nebulous agenda item at best. "Ready for bed?" He asked her, slowly sitting back, untangling from her arms.

"I was ready when I got up this morning." She shifted closer, not yet willing to let him go completely. Reaching up, she flaked a bit of mud off his extendible and tisked as she flicked it to the floor. "I've forced myself to not do more than look at the mattress in there." Deunan nodded towards the tiny bedroom at the other end of their lodging. "I knew if I so much as sat on it, I'd probably be done for the evening."

"So you tired yourself out with laundry instead?" He challenged her irrational impulses. "I could have done that, you know."

"Bah," She dismissed. "You were doing the food-thing. Least I could do was toss some shirts in a bucket and scrub the worst of the crap out of them until you got back. Besides, the bed, I am glad to report, is plenty big for two, provided they don't mind being cozy. So I figured I'd wait for you."

"I'm barely fit for sleeping indoors, girl." He laughed softly at her invitation. "There' no way I'm muddying up you and the sheets after you've taken all the trouble to get yourself clean."

"That's why we're going to take an hour and scrub you too, tin-man." She kissed his forehead again. "I've taken the liberty of assembling a bit of a care-package for my favorite cyborg over the past few days. You landing this cabin was just the icing on the cake… I've been planning to take you someplace quiet and knock the mud off of you since we survived that damn tank."

Deunan rubbed her nose against his face playfully. "I figure, working on you together, we can get you looking almost like your old self before bedtime, easy. I saved the last of the day's water ration for you. The dishes can keep until tomorrow."

Briareos pulled back, staring at her in amazement. It took a moment to put two and two together. "The graphite was for me?"

"I figured it'd work just as well as oil, and since it's dry in the first place, will be better for you, less muddy goop to wipe off of your motors. Although we still have some refined oil left from the last time we had a chance to give you a rough-once-over." She gave him a thoughtful look. "Getting you clean is as much a health and safety thing as it is a luxury, handsome. If _I_ can hear your servos when you move, you're probably audible a mile away to another cyborg." She rubbed another bit of dirt off of his extendibles. "Better to be careful, given that we can't exactly get parts for you on a whim around here."

"I'll take care of myself." He shook his head, more than a little humbled at her willingness to exert herself on his behalf when she was so obviously tapped out. "You go lay down."

"Don't be silly." Deunan scolded, stepping back to tug him out of his chair instead. "It'll take hours if you do it yourself, and you're bound to miss something! Don't forget, my fingers are smaller than yours! Excellent for reaching hard to-clean spots… And besides…" She gave him a saucy look. "I've been wanting an excuse to get you naked and oiled up for months now."

Briareos let himself be led outside and over to the relative privacy behind their trailer. With an argument like that, how could he refuse?

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With the tiny bathroom in their trailer unable to hold him, they were obliged to scrub and rinse him in sections. Deunan had thoughtfully hung their drying towels and clothes in a tight bunch, constructing a screen of fabric between them and their neighbors, should either cabin have nosy tenants. At first Briareos concentrated on his chest, and arms with a rag while Deunan tackled his back with a bristle brush. Then they'd tackled a leg a piece, somehow managing to avoid the blatant innuendo inherent in a girl polishing her robotic lover's thighs. Finally they settled down at the picnic bench under the porch light as they both tackled the fine work, using the toothbrushes she'd thoughtfully bartered for.

Cleaning around the joints of his left hand, he wondered at what had to be a year's worth of accumulated crap working loose to cover the bench. He'd be ten pounds lighter from shedding mud and caked oil alone by morning. Deunan finished his second foot with a satisfied sigh, splashing water over it to rinse off the last of the crumbs of dirt before deftly buffing it dry with her towel. Reaching first for the compressed air, she blasted a jet into the fine mechanics of his ankle and toe-plate motors. Focused on her chore, she swapped one canister for another, applying a generous coating of the dry lubricant into the mechanism. He wiggled his foot to spread the soothing substance evenly over the full range of the motors, feeling the improved responsiveness immediately.

"Whew." She sat back. "I don't know about you, baby, but I'm pooped. Working you over properly takes a lot out of a girl."

"Go to bed." He pointed firmly at the trailer, ignoring what had to be deliberate double-entendre. "You've done enough. I can finish up from here."

"Let me just get your head, idiot." She smirked. "Then you can finish your hands while I take in the laundry, and we can _both_ go to bed." Standing and stretching, she didn't care that her 'dress' rode scandalously high on her thighs as she raised her arms above her head.

It was really too tempting to resist, Briareos told himself as he reached out unconsciously to caress the rarely exposed skin. She forbore to comment as he petted the side of her leg and then slid his hand up to catch her hip beneath her shirt, running a thoughtful finger along the line of her panties before pulling her into his lap. It'd take next to nothing to feel her bare skin against his, but he hesitated to undress her. How long had it been? He asked himself idly, stroking her back and thighs. How long since they'd been able to lounge around wearing next to nothing, enjoying each other's company just for the hell of it? Probably about as long as the last time they'd had lazy mid-day sex, or likely even longer, not since LA.

Their crappy old apartment in the hills had been a palace by comparison to most of the places they'd been stationed since. Four good sized rooms? A full kitchen, a balcony, two parking spaces, no rationing, it had been just nice boring suburban existence. Briareos cuddled his girl closer; hanging on to the last piece remaining to him of what had once been a comfortable life. It'd likely be a long time before they'd have peace like that again. The whole world had gone mental with this latest round of fighting. Countries forgetting the pain of fifty years ago in favor of starting the whole mess all over again. It was a never-ending cycle.

Deunan took his woolgathering for acceptance of her agenda. Reaching up with deft fingers, she applied her toothbrush to the caked crap around the base of his extendibles, pursing her lips as she concentrated on the awkward angle. He forced himself to hold still under the gentle abuse, acknowledging that he'd have a hard time without a mirror or two, seeing what he was doing if he tried to clean himself.

"Pop your cranial plate and I'll check underneath?" She flicked her toothbrush with her thumb, knocking the worst of the grit off of it. He did a he was told, feeling a little weird, even though it wasn't the first time she'd seen him without the plates covering the top of his head. She worked her brush carefully around his lenses and into the pivots of his jaw as she thoroughly checked him over, only relenting when he couldn't take the itching of the loose dirt anymore. "Don't flinch." Deunan angled the can of air to blow the worst of the crap out and to the side and gave him a long jet down first the right side of his face, then the left.

"Gah" he shook his head when she was done, the sensation not exactly uncomfortable, but definitely weird. She hopped off his lap and passed him the last of the water. He leaned sideways and poured the jug slowly over his head, rinsing whatever was left off into the sorry looking grass. She sprayed his face with air again as soon as he was done. Something in her preoccupied look made him wonder if she remembered that he was supposedly her boyfriend, not her motorcycle engine. She caught his chin when he might have flinched again, holding him still as she dried the machinery behind his eyes despite his grumbling.

"Finished?" He asked grumpily as she set the can aside at last.

"Almost." Deunan replied, unswayed by his complaining. Instead she picked up the graphite again, studying first the can, and then him, as if pondering how to achieve best results.

"You are no spraying that crap in my eyes, little girl." He vowed firmly. "It'll probably do horrible things to my lenses."

"But it's probably better for the motors than the usual oil you use." She speculated. "Pity you can't close your eyes…"

"Blame the doctor for not building in eyelids." He grumbled again.

Deunan however was back to ignoring him. Frowning as she considered alternatives, she reached backwards and picked up his shirt from where it'd fallen. She promptly rejected the filthy fabric as inappropriate, looking down at her own shirt she shrugged prosaically. "Needs cleaning anyway."

Following her look he had to admit that his dress shirt was now a little worse for the wear, damped in places and grey with streaks of graphite, the material was due for a washing. He still didn't expect her to strip it off without warning however. Deunan didn't seem to think anything of it. Sitting in his lap in nothing but her underwear as she shook the shirt out, she made a very pretty picture, bruises and visible ribs aside. Being suddenly in close proximity to a lovely pair of pink-tipped breasts was more than a little distracting. Briareos almost forgot her sinister purpose as his thoughts happily derailed onto a more pleasant track.

"What are you doing?" He found himself promptly blinded as she blanketed eyes and nose with a cloth-covered hand. "Hey!"

"Hold your breath." She advised as she sprayed graphite into the servos on the left side of his face. Ignoring his sputtering, she repeated the process with his other side and gave him a third spray up under his jaw for good measure.

His nose was overwhelmed by the chalky smell of the spray and far more intriguing scent of Deunan lingering in the cloth. She wasn't interested in being romantic however, once his face met with her approval, she slid off his legs and shifted to spray the back of his head.

"God damn it, woman." He felt his back left eye go blind as she shielded first one and then the other rear-facing eye from the mist of lubricant. "Do you mind?"

One squirt each to his extendibles and she circled him to inspect her results. Deunan used the corner of his shirt to wipe a few traces of lubricant away from his nose and chin. Cleaning her hands on his shirt, she wasn't above giving him an 'I told you so' look as he coughed to clear his throat.

Never body shy, Deunan was in no rush to conceal herself from his appreciative stare. Somehow the smudges of graphite still visible on her cheek and arms managed to make her own nudity both commonplace and also unbelievably sexy at the same time. Briareos cursed his immediate and powerful need to take the fabric from her hands and lean forward to make good the impulse to kiss her senseless.

He wasn't over thirty for nothing. Briareos sighed and pushed the unhelpful urges aside. He could act mature and responsible when he ought to. It didn't mean it wasn't physically painful to quell the impulse to drag her down and claim her out on their back porch like a horny teenager. He gritted his teeth and did it anyway. They had a perfectly good bed that could be put to use tomorrow after she'd gotten a good eight hours of rest, if she was in the mood. Until then he told himself that she was firmly off limits.

"All done." She patted his cheek, seemingly oblivious to his distraction. "Feel free to suit-up."

Briareos restored his cover-plates with a sigh of relief. He felt weirdly exposed without them. As uncomfortable as her manhandling had been, he noticed the lack of noise in his optics almost immediately. Able to focus and swivel his eyes without the fine particles of dirt grinding in the gears was a nice change. He took a moment to work all his joints and motors, seeing if the improvement was universal or if they'd missed spot. Now that the majority was working correctly it was easy to tell what was still acting up. He reclaimed the canned graphite and applied another squirt to his jaw, sighing in relief.

"You ok to finish?" Deunan pulled his shirt back over her shoulders, wearing it as a robe a she wiped her hands on it. "I'm going to pull down the laundry. Bring you a fresh pair of pants in a minute, alright?"

"Sure, go ahead." He applied the lubricant to his knuckles, working his fingers to spread it around before doing the same for his wrist. It didn't take long at all to finish the last few joints. Briareos packed up the various bits and brushes they'd used to set him straight, wondering if it was worth trying to keep them or whether they'd be better off given to someone in camp for other electronics maintenance. There was room in his pack, he decided for at least the toothbrushes and the spray lubricant. They had proven themselves to be pretty damned useful. Easy enough to shove the rest against the side of the cabin for the night and figure out what he wanted to do with it tomorrow.

Deunan reappeared with a generous armful of clothing just as he was tipping the bench up to shake the worst of the filth off. He promptly claimed the pile and nodded that she could get the door. Tomorrow he'd do the last few bits of scrubbing while she slept in, he resolved. It was uncanny to have her so far ahead of him in their usual chores. He had intended for their time off to be primarily him pampering her, not the other way around.

Dropping the bulk of the fabric on the tiny couch to deal with later, he retrieved a pair of boxers out of habit and pulled them on, giving his girl time to fuss in the bathroom. Seeing her make her way from sink to bed, he took it as his cue to follow, inching up onto the decent but not over-large bunk provided. Deunan let him settle into a curl behind her, spooning herself against his chest and legs as she relaxed. Once he was settled she turned in his arms, draping her knees over his thigh, curling herself up against his shoulder and neck. She had swapped her underwear for a loose t-shirt, not caring when it hiked up over her thighs as she sprawled against him. Briareos did his best to not think about how soft the skin pressed against him was. Instead he resolved to enjoy feeling clean and fed for a change, and pulling a sheet over the both of them, resolutely concentrated on her breathing, hearing the subtle change from awake to asleep as the woman in his arms drifted off.


	3. Chapter 3

-Reconnaissance – (part3)

An Appleseed fanfic

Characters & universe created by Masamune Shirow.

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DEUNAN

She woke up once in pre-dawn darkness. Her brain stupidly hardwired for the early rise time despite the fact that she knew perfectly well there would be no need for it. Blinking slowly, Deunan reveled sleepily in the idea of being able to lie in just for the hell of it. The feeling of clean sheets against her legs, and Briareos' enormous bulk cuddled down the length of her spine, made her smile. Tents and marching and sleeping on shale all seemed like a weird dream when presented with the reality of a modestly comfortable bed, and a quiet morning with her lover. He was snoring softly against her hair. She turned slowly to get a better look at him in the grey light.

Clean and buffed, it was clear where hundreds of scuffs and scratches marred his once perfectly satin finish. She tisked to herself at a particularly deep scratch cut into one of his cheek guards, remembering the hit he had taken that made it. When the war was over, she'd see about getting someone to refinish her poor boyfriend back to a proper gloss. Her own bruises and scrapes would heal soon enough, but he'd be stuck with his banged-up plating potentially for years.

Reaching up she ran her fingers along his jaw, feeling for damage less visible. He muttered but did not wake at her touch, exhausted in his own right, despite his recently preoccupation with fussing over her. The silver shine of his profile made her smile bittersweet. Strange to think his cyborg face had once alarmed her. Familiarity had made it all together normal feeling under her fingers. Deunan almost couldn't remember what he'd looked like as a man anymore. She had photos somewhere, in storage along with the rest of their crap that had survived the fires. But it'd made no sense to keep such things with her in a warzone. She consoled herself with stretching slightly to kiss his chin.

When even that didn't rouse her boyfriend she decided that he had the right idea after all. Five am was too damned early. Shifting to tuck herself closer against his chest, she pressed a kiss against his neck, daring to give in to sentimentality when he wasn't awake to be annoyed by it.

"Love you, Bri."

It didn't bother her that the only answer she got was his regular breathing. Grand declarations weren't his style anyway. Deunan settled her head against him and resolved to nap until it became physically impossible to sleep anymore.

Awareness caught her again with a warm thrill. Deunan stared in confusion up at the white arch of the ceiling, wondering at how it felt as though she had only just closed her eyes. Clearly hours had passed since her first attempt at waking up. She pieced together memories of how she'd come to be in the camper-like cabin, but her brain refused to guestimate what the hour was; _late_ undoubtedly. Deunan closed her eyes and stretched, slowly taking stock of herself. She felt good. Other than waking up alone against the pillows, sleeping in was everything it was cracked up to be. Feeling another warm thrill up her spine, Deunan blinked, suddenly more awake. She felt better than just good. She felt great. In fact, she felt horny as hell.

Probably had something to do with what a certain cyborg was up to between her legs. The reason he wasn't laying next to her on the mattress was suddenly clear. Briareos had opted to curl himself over the edge of the bed instead; sprawled with her legs draped over his shoulders as he took advantage of her willing body.

Deunan's toes curled as her boyfriend nuzzled and tasted her thighs. The wet heat of his mouth when contrasted with the cool smooth edges of his face was enough to pull a sigh of surprised pleasure from her. She raised her head to stare down along the bed, confirming what her body was energetically telling her before letting it fall back against the pillows.

"You bastard, what do you think you're doing?" The words barely left her mouth before she was obliged to bite a knuckle to keep from voicing even louder appreciation of his caress.

She wished she could have remembered what she'd been dreaming about. Flushed and warm to the marrow with her boyfriend's caress, she felt sad to think that'd she'd slept through even a moment of the unexpected attention. Deunan reached down to stroke the smooth metal of his scalp in appreciation for the thrill he was giving her. Wondering what had brought on his sudden interest. To be fair, had he tried it a week or even a month ago, the combination of dirt and sweat would have likely been a turn off for both of them. Being clean, and having the ability to wash off afterwards, was a powerful argument in favor of spontaneous sex.

Letting heself relax back against the sheets she let herself just enjoy the gift given. Sleepy and thrilled and aching with how much she wanted him, Deunan closed her eyes as she crested on a wave of long overdue passion. How long had it been? She marveled at the novelty of the sensation compared to the recent monotony of abstinence, happily floating between dreaming and awake. Far too long.

With her eyes closed, it was easy to fantasize that weren't in the middle of a war zone. Briaraeos' almost-playful touches reminded her of when they were living back in their old apartment where everything was safe, and ordinary, and the only uniforms they had to wear were the blue ones that came off at the end of the day.

She let herself pretend it was one of _those_ days off. One where they had no particular plans for anything but each other, one where they got up only to pull all the curtains closed, bringing breakfast back to bed so that it'd be in easy reach when they wanted it. Those days had been the best. Hours of lazy cuddling, talking, spine tingling sex... It wasn't often that she could get Briareos in the right mood for it, but when she did? She grinned at the memory of how much they must have pissed off the neighbors on those days. No wonder the old woman across the hall had always given her such dirty looks.

"Please baby." She encouraged Briareos both past and present, not above begging if she got what she wanted. Her cyborg was more than happy to oblige her.

Laying bonelessly against the damp sheets, she swore she could hear Briareos' chuckling over the ringing in her ears. Her partner nuzzled her skin, laying small kisses along her stomach and hands as she gathered up her wits. Deunan caught her breath and pushed her hair away from her face. Coming to grips with her unusual wakeup call, and her body's lingering shivers of pleasure.

"Good morning?" He offered with classic understatement when she propped herself on her elbows to glare at him again.

"What was that for?" Deunan couldn't help but ask. Not that she was complaining, but she wished he'd have woken her up sooner. She would have liked to enjoy the beginning as well as the ending of his performance. It was totally unfair, Deunan decided in the aftermath, that he'd started without her. Something as great as that wasn't just an every day occurrence, and she'd gone and probably missed half of it.

He nuzzled her thigh in apology before resting his cheek against it to watch her. "I figured it was as good a way as any to get your lazy bones out of bed. It's noon, woman. Time for all good little hellcats to wake up and have some breakfast."

"Oh." She fell back against the pillows. "Well that's ok I guess."

Trust Briareos to make such a lame explanation sound perfectly sensible and commonplace. She shook her head at his lack of romance. Feeling him pull free of her body, she curled on her side, sated but not particularly sleepy. Breakfast actually seemed like a really good idea. Deunan contemplated moving as the buzz of her excitement faded into a more reasonable level of arousal. Either breakfast, or more sex was definitely on the agenda. With her lover already up and puttering in their tiny kitchen, she supposed she'd be obliged to the first. She'd have to see about talking him into the second afterwards.

What was it about prolonged abstinence that always made sex with him impossibly good, she wondered. Slipping off the mattress, she splashed some water on her face in the closet-sized bathroom. No amount of finger combing of her hair would make it lay flat. Deunan stuck her tongue out at her reflection before giving up for the morning. Briareos would just have to take her as she was. Leering at herself, she conceded that he already _had_.

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Having consumed what felt like her body-weight in oatmeal and fruit, Deunan was more than content to just sit in the sun on their worn out little picnic table digesting her meal while letting Briareos do chores. Watching her oversized cybernetic partner doing things as mundane as hanging wet laundry on the line, washing dishes, and carting their extensive armory out of the various bags and boxes for cleaning made her smile. The pistol that she used regularly looked like a pop-gun in his massive hands. His own favored weapons were sized more along the lines of the guns the tanks had bolted to their sides. She could barely lift his favorite sniping rifle, much less aim with it.

As nice as it was to bask in the sun and let him do all the work, her fingers itched for something to do. It was either be productive, and help, or jump him for a recap of what had gotten her out of bed in the first place. Briareos didn't seem particularly interested in the later. She wondered about his change of tactic. Surely he was hornier than _she_ was. Unless he'd jerked off before going down on her, he'd let her enjoy herself without taking anything for himself yet. He could be incredibly generous, as a lover, but not usually _that_ generous. So why wasn't he interested? It was a mystery in need of solving.

Deunan reached across the table to claim her guns back from him. Pulling the clips and disassembling the hardware with a fraction of her concentration, she mulled over schemes to get him back to bed. She could clean and oil the familiar weapons in the dark, half asleep. Hell she'd done both in recent memory. Her fingers moved without any particular need for her attention, knowing their job by rote. Once the last of the small arms was tended to Deunan set herself to counting shells and making a list of what they were short on. Briareos continued to studiously not notice her as he worked on the larger pieces of their collection. A less attentive girlfriend might have mistaken him for engrossed in his work. She puzzled it over as she padded around him to swap cartridges and re-arrange cases.

Briareos was definitely 'not looking' when she leaned over his arm to claim a spare rag, giving him a perfectly good opportunity to feel her breasts pressing against him. He didn't make a peep when she crouched down next to the sack of munitions to sort the content, and gave his thigh a squeeze as she used him for a prop to get back on her feet again. He barely even twitched as she languorous stretched her arms over her head. Working the kinks out of her shoulders while feigning ignorance of the way her oversized t-shirt hiked up against the tops of her thighs.

It had to be guilt. Deunan recognized the symptoms after a moment's thought. It wasn't that he wasn't burning for her, because that much was bloody obvious. He just didn't think he could go for her, for some dumb reason.

It was hardly the first time her idiot cyborg had withdrawn from her after sex. It'd just been so damned long since he'd last froze her out that she almost wasn't sure that was what he was doing. She resisted the urge to laugh at him. That would wound his pride for certain. Deunan could have sworn that they'd gotten over this particular level of insecurity by now. It'd been years since she'd been a blushing virgin. And easily just as long since she thought she'd proven to him that he could do damn near anything and turn her on.

Why on earth did he feel guilty? Because he'd woken her up? Because she had glared at him? Surely he realized she was just teasing. She'd have thought the ten minutes of begging and moaning he'd gotten beforehand that would have been a big enough clue for him that she'd loved it. But he was funny like that.

Hopefully the neighbors were all off doing their jobs. She realized with a guilty start as she gave up on seducing her boyfriend with the obvious ploys. If any of them were home, they had probably gotten one hell of an eyefull. Deunan promptly decided she didn't care. They could make popcorn and pull up chairs if they wanted.

She walked over to her cyborg's side of the table and waited for him to wipe his hands on a rag before tapping his shoulder. "Excuse me…" She smiled as he looked over at her.

"Something that you want from me, little woman?" He asked mildly.

Deunan leaned into his personal space without remorse, pressing a kiss against his metal lips before pulling back to give him a measuring look. "You're ignoring me." She stated the obvious.

"Am I?" He reached for another gun, but she put her hand on it before he could begin pulling it apart. Looking up at her again, he tilted his head as if to raise an eyebrow in inquiry. "You have something against me taking care of some chores in my downtime?"

It was impossible to tell some days whether he was teasing her or being perfectly serious. Deunan refused to let his refusal to be baited annoy her. Instead she lifted his hands off the table and inserted herself between him and his project. Straddling his lap, she slid her hands up his arms and over his shoulders until she could capture his face between her palms. Taking the fact that he didn't immediately pull her off of him as a good sign, she coaxed his head lower until she could rest her forehead against his chin, stroking his jaw with her thumbs. A quiet minute of hesitation later and he relented, arms shifting to circle her back, cradling her close. Deunan let her hands slide around his neck, weaving her fingers together to keep him captive in her arms.

The opportunity to just hold him, for the sake of holding him, was wonderful. The chance of getting something more intimate out of him was a pleasant bonus. Pulling herself upwards towards his mouth, she kissed him a second time, leaving him in no doubt of her intentions. He leaned down into her lips, mouth opening to slide his tongue over hers. It was all the invitation she needed. If Briareos was willing, she was certainly going to exploit the opportunity to the best of her ability. Too stuffed to eat anymore, and too buzzed to nap, she opted for the third item on her personal 'enjoy time off' checklist. Her body had never quite cooled during breakfast, and was more than ready to return to horny-as-hell with a little encouragement. It made no sense to waste a perfectly good opportunity for lazy afternoon sex. With nothing to do all day but lounge around, the chores could be done whenever. She wanted him _now_.

Shifting forwards to cross her ankles behind her cyborg's waist, she wrapped herself around him in every way she could. If he wouldn't take her inside, she'd be just as happy to have him on the picnic table, and to hell with her ice-queen persona. It wasn't like anyone they knew would frequent the 'officer's area' in camp. Their neighbors were probably all out on their day-shifts. They had both time and privacy, if they wanted to make use of it. She wanted to make use of it. "Take me to bed, sexy beast."

She nuzzled his jaw again, rolling her hips against his abs. "The guns will keep until later. I, on the other hand, would really like it if you finished what you started before breakfast."

"That was actually…" He laughed softly against her hair, fingers tightening on her waist in response to her antics. "That is to say, I got a little carried away, before. I hadn't intended to go quite that far…"

"I wasn't complaining!" Deunan grinned at his confession. He _was_ guilty. How stupid was that? It was Briareos all over, was what it was. She shook her head at how earnest he could be sometimes.

"It was a surprise, sure. But a nice one." Tilting her head as she met his intrigued stare, she smirked up at him. "I think it safe to say you got my attention. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"

"Well…" He let his hands drift lower until they were supporting her thighs. Carefully shifting himself off the bench, he held her against his chest as he stood up. "A certain succubus of my acquaintance has invited me to share her bed for awhile this afternoon. As I have no pressing engagements elsewhere, I thought I might just take her up on the offer. Provided of course, that she agrees to take a nap afterwards? She's supposed to be resting today."

"I'm not an invalid, Bri." Deunan bumped his chin with her nose, doing her best to not notice just how far down the ground was when he walked her across the short distance to their trailer's backdoor. "You don't need to treat me like spun sugar. I was just run down yesterday, that's all. I feel fine now!"

Her cyborg was obliged to put her down, unable to navigate the narrow door with her in his arms. Following her into the shady interior of their cabin, he caught her by the shoulders, turning her around until he could hold her chin. Tilting her face, he studied her carefully before letting go with a sigh. "You look better. But you're still a long way to go from the little woman I'm accustomed to."

"You'll just have to feed me more." She tisked him. Seeing the speculative tilt of his extendibles, Deunan held up her hands in self-defense. "Not right now, dummy. If I eat anymore this minute I'll puke. Let me finish digesting lunch before you inflict dinner on me!"

"Breakfast." He corrected candidly. "That was breakfast you had just now. Lunch will be noodles with… well… chicken. They claim.

Deunan laughed at his honest appraisal of what the army called 'Chicken Casserole'. After her first few experiences with it, she was almost positive that the dish had to be vegan. Her taste-buds insisted that whatever it was in the dish, it was neither dairy nor poultry. Given that most of the protein they were fed was actually manufactured soy, she wouldn't have been surprised to hear that their casserole was made entirely of plant byproduct. Not that the dish wasn't edible, but it seemed shameful to pass it off as chicken. "If that's lunch, what's dinner?" She had to ask. "I-can't-believe-they're-not-pork-chops?"

"Chowder and rolls. I can't vouch for the legitimacy of the chowder, but the rolls are real honest to god bread, baked today even." He replied. "And… Possibly more casserole, depending on whether we finish it all earlier or not."

"I'm impressed." She wrapped her arms around him again. "This premium grade chow is a real step up from our usual grunt-food. You've filled your socially mandated 'bread-winner' duties for the week with gold-star effort! I think you've earned a reward…"

"You decide you're hungry after all?" He asked teasingly, caressing her back.

"Only for you, handsome." Deunan grinned as her boyfriend groaned at the obvious line.

It didn't stop him from sweeping her up onto his shoulder, despite the low ceilings. She allowed herself a girly squeal as she let him shanghai her into the bedroom hung over his back like a sack of potatoes. It wasn't often that Briareos was playful about their relative difference in size, and she loved it when he was relaxed enough to do so. He deftly dropped her in the center of their bed, leaving her laughing against the pillows as he pulled off his t-shirt and belt in preparation for joining her.

"Idiot." He scolded lovingly as she reached up to pull him onto the bed.

"Unbuckle, tin-man. Your chastity belt won't save you from my advances." She drummed her fingers on the protective plating of his groin.

Somehow they had to find a way of getting some god-damned privacy, she thought. There was no good reason, other than their mutual dislike of being gossiped about that they couldn't have sex more often. It was just with everything else going on, they hadn't had a real chance to put their heads together and figure something out.

The last of his hesitation seemed to melt away as she teased him, her cyborg sinking on to the bed to gather her in his arms for a more serious cuddle. Deunan made good the opportunity to slide her hands over his metal plates, enjoying the feel of him, and clean and bed all at once. It was a great feeling. She only wished they could share it more often.

"I don't want you exerting yourself." Briareos swatted her hands away before she could do more than a rudimentary exploration of his body. "You need your rest, hellcat. It's frankly disturbing as hell to see you with rings under your eyes. And I really don't go for the starved waif look, I'll have you know. You're on notice, girl. Shape up or my eye may just start to wander."

"Uh huh." She recognized an empty threat when she heard one. Snuggling closer she rubbed her cheek against his chest. "So I suppose you're just in bed with me today... out of pity?"

"Yeah." He caught her fingers again, rubbing his thumbs over the palms of her hands in an absentminded caress. "So no insane acrobatics today, alright? For once just lay back and let me do the work. I want you relaxed and sleepy, not burning calories you ought to be conserving."

"Phooey." She tried to out maneuver his hands but found him impossibly fast when he wanted to be. Deunan let him push her backwards back down onto the sheets. Juggling his grip on her, he managed to pin both her hands above her head, her wrists caught with gentle firmness in one of his giant hands. She arched under him, silently thrilled by the unexpected domination. Not above giving him a little show for his efforts, she squirmed and mock struggled as his other hand slid provocatively under her shirt and up her chest. Briareos grumbled as her t-shirt bunched up under her and got in the way. "Why is it that you can wear so damned little, and it _still_ manages to be a bloody nuisance?"

"Serves you right for not stripping me when you had the chance. " She wriggled beneath him with a wicked smile. "Now you're stuck. If you let me go I might just get away. Unless you want to tear it off of me?" She leered up at him.

"That's my t-shirt, you know." He pointed out, torn between laughing at her absurdity and his usual practical nature. "Besides, all I have to do is get it over your head, I don't have to let you go for that."

Pulling her lightly until she sat up, he proved he was entirely correct, his free hand sliding easily along the contours of her side and up to tickle her ribs. Shifting himself so he was kneeling next to the bed, Briareos pressed his face against her shoulder, tasting her skin at regular intervals as he laid claim to her body. Long armed as he was, he really didn't need to let go of her in order to reach anything and everything he wanted, she realized. Her blood warmed at the idea of the fun they could have just as they were. Waiting for him to come up for air, she dared him with her challenge. "You think you can hang on to me like this the whole time? You'll have to let go eventually, I bet."

"Yeah?" He stretched across her to kiss her other shoulder, blanketing her in his bulk. She shamelessly arched up into him, enjoying the chance to be with him. Briareos snorted in amusement at her antics. "And what will you bet me that I can't hold on to you, hellcat?"

Deunan laughed softly. "What do you want?"

"If I win, and you don't get loose?" He sat back on his heels and gave her a considering look. "I don't know… how 'bout a blowjob?"

"You're going to get one of those eventually anyway." She laughed at his easily obtainable wish list. "Think bigger. Surely there's something you've been dreaming off that's more of a treat?"

"Nothing readily available." He shrugged. "I don't know if you've noticed lately, girlie, but sex on the beach is in short supply here in Wyoming."

"I'll take a rain-check then." Deunan smiled at him. "For when we do have a chance to prepare properly."

"Hmmm well if we're speaking in hypotheticals." Briareos tilted his head, "I want you in that nurse costume again. The one with the white garters and heels you wore that time."

Deunan blinked up at him, "Really?"

"I liked it." He shrugged again. "It was sexy."

"You wanna play doctor with me, Bri?" She couldn't help but tease.

It had been years ago, when he was still recovering at the hospital that she had pulled that stunt. She honestly hadn't thought he'd go for it, and had worn the costume more to make him laugh than to turn him on. After wearing it once or twice she had abandoned it in favor of other ways to tickle her man's fancy. Deunan wished he'd spoken up sooner. She hadn't thought that he'd liked the bit of silly dress up more or less than any of her other antics. Apparently he had really enjoyed it, if he remembered it after all this time.

"You said I should ask for something I was dreaming about." He replied unfazed. "So I did. Some day, I think it'd be sexy if you wore white garters again." Nuzzling along her neck, he placed a kiss against her sensitive skin. "That's what I want."

"Fair enough." She arched under his mouth, wishing he'd apply it to portions of her aching for a little attention. "In that case, if you let go, I demand that _you_ someday wake me up again the same as you did this morning. But for god's sake, handsome, poke me or something as you're getting started because missing half of it was a crying shame."

Her cyborg rubbed his face against her skin, "Minx. I think I can manage that."

"So we have a bet?" Deunan tested his grip by trying to slip a hand free. He immediately shifted his fingers to prevent her escape. She bit her lip to keep from laughing breathlessly, more turned on than she had any reason to be by the light bondage. This was going to be _fun_.

"This was supposed to be restful." Briareos shifted to kiss her slowly, savoring her mouth instead of waiting for her answer. Deunan returned his kiss with one equally thorough. She was probably going to lose her bet with him, but it was hardly like he would never eat her out again. Especially now that she'd gotten it through to him that she'd rather enjoyed his method of waking up. Rocking seductively against her cyborg, Deunan encouraged him the best she could without hands to hold him with.

"You've got a girl hot and bothered for you, handsome. Don't complain about it." She advised him playfully.

"It's never slow and easy with you, is it." He laughed in quiet amusement at her, shifting from the floor and hoisting her higher on the bed so that he could fit beside her. "You'd think with your hands out of the picture, I'd be able to keep you in check… but apparently not." Deunan shrugged, not feeling particularly ashamed of her inability to just lie back and let sex happen to her.

Briareos shifted them until he could sit with her sprawled in front of him, her legs draped over his thighs as he pet her chest and stomach. Deunan pouted at him discovering she was unable to tease him in her new pose. "Just this once, little woman, we're going to do this my way."

"I thought you said you wanted me to _relax_." She couldn't help herself but contradict him. As her 'punishment' was to have him run his hands over her skin some more, she didn't think he minded all that much.

"You. Will learn. To like slow and easy. If it kills me." Bri shifted against the sheets until he could murmur in her ear. "It doesn't have to always be a race for it to be good, hellcat. We've taken our time one or two occasions, I remember."

"I hate delayed gratification." She pouted at him, getting the drift of his game. Licking his jaw, she purred in his ear. "And you have to admit, it's fun for you too, handsome. You _like_ a good quickie in the afternoon."

He wanted her to be the wild succubus that he tamed to his bed? She arched herself up against him. She had no problem with that. If they paced themselves right, the sex could very well last all day. Deunan sucked at the plates of his neck, entirely pleased with the idea.

He had to be as desperate for her as she was for him. More so- since he hadn't had any foreplay before breakfast to take the edge off. But his tempo didn't shift at all, fingers petting her skin as he continued his leisurely caress.

"Please, Bri?" She needed _something_, anything. Not even he could be that cruel of a tease. A little bondage was all well and fun, but not if he didn't actually plan to _do_ anything. Sitting around in his lap _thinking_ about the sex they could be having was only good for making her achy and grumpy. He made a soft noise of amusement as she squirmed in his lap. At last he moved as she wanted, drawing their play out so its slow, methodical conclusion with a shift of his body against hers.

Pinned as she was, Deunan moaned happily, unable to arch backwards or lean forwards to goad him into moving faster, she could only let it happen, marveling at his stamina. The sound of his rough breathing behind her was her only evidence that he too was fighting the urge to just forget their game and claim her immediately. Deunan bit her lip at her partner's stubborn insistence on savoring the slow build of tense anticipation between them. Never in a million years willing to admit that she was getting off on the slow touches as much as she ever had with flat-out-wild sex. She cursed him as she struggled with her hands again, unable to get free, or get satisfaction as she wanted.

Briareos ignored her murmured pleas for more in favor of sliding his hand up her body, over breasts, along her neck, cupping her cheek. Her cyborg pressed her head back against his chest, petting her jaw and throat as he gently rocked into her. The tiny motions making her tremble with desire. She could hear his heartbeat, she realized dizzily. Deunan caught herself giving into his thoughtful pace and forced herself to stir, to do something, even if the effort was futile. The game was no fun if it ended too quickly. Turning her head into his grip, she caught one of her fingers between her lips. He gasped as she encased it in her mouth, sliding her tongue provocatively over and around the tip while squeezing him with her inner muscles, proving that even pinned she could still tease him too.

"Damned succubus." He named her with a sigh, leaning forwards, settling himself firmly between her legs. With the new angle, Deunan found she could rock her hips more, and did her best to try and make him shift for himself. Her entire body hovered at the brink of satiety. If only he would just let her move, she could get _herself_ off in a stroke or two.

"There is nothing in the world like being with you, girl." He breathed as he surrendered to her need at last. Arms tightening around her, he began to make love to her in earnest, not at all rough or wild, but absolutely thrilling just the same.

"Bri…" She hissed as she rode the second wave of pleasure he brought her since awaking. "Jesus, Bri, the things I let you talk me into."

"Witch." He whispered back, picking up his pace by a fraction, giving her a measure of the depth and force she craved. Deunan leaned forwards against the unrelenting strength of his arms, pushing against him anyway she could, finding the struggle itself to be enough to lift her over the edge. "…That's usually my line…"

Tangled against the sheets she marveled that only one time wasn't enough, for either of them. Touching, kissing, indulging in a whole array of sensations that they'd been living with out for weeks, months even. There was desperation to it, sure, after all who knew when they might have another chance like this one? Perks like a private tent, and fresh water were hard to come by. She mourned the loss of what she used to take for granted back in LA. Briareos was right with her, like always. She sighed with pleasure at the way he seemed to read her every sleepy desire, able to give as only he could, while at the same time coaxing her to give all she could in return. Her passion fed his, closing the circle between them with one round of lovemaking leading to another, and to both their surprise, even another still until they both lay panting and sated against the bedding.

Somewhere in the heat of the moment, Deunan realized to her sleepy amusement, sweat had given her the advantage she'd been seeking. Without honestly intending to, she pulled a hand free as his grip slipped against her skin. Spooned against his chest, Deunan lay bonelessly for a while, enjoying his arms around her, trying to decide whether she had won or lost their bet. One hand was free, but he still had the other firmly in his grip despite their marathon of sex. Really, she had to admit, looking at their joined hands. They were clinging to eachother at this point. His hand had slid from her wrist in order to hold hers in a more companionable way. Her fingers gripping his as hard as he was hers. It was a tie, she figured. The house would take all. Or maybe they'd each get half of their prize? She couldn't see him complaining if she omitted the uniform and just wore the garters. But how was he to give her only half a morning-make-out session? It was problematic at best.

Briareos eventually stirred and sighed, fingers shifting in her grip as he shook off his dazed inertia. He shifted against the bed with a soft curse, shuffling down the mattress until he could nuzzle her hair. Deunan lifted his limp hand to her lips, kissing them playfully to acknowledge his hard work.

"What happened to taking it easy?" She teased him softly.

Her partner sighed in defeat, sounding utterly exhausted. "_You_ happened, idiot." The hand she was cuddling reached up to tweak her nose playfully as he wrapped the other closer around her waist. "Damned succubus. Did I-"

"I'm fine." She turned her head to rub her cheek against his nose. "You can do that to me again anytime, handsome."

"I guess I lost our bet." He mused as he let her rest her head against his trapped hand. Deunan kissed his knuckles in response. "Pity."

Briareos pressed his flat nose into her hair again, seeming to enjoy the texture against his face. "I was kinda looking forward to you in that outfit."

"I'll see what I can do." Deunan chuckled at the thought of him moping at the loss of her in a ludicrously short nurse-uniform and garters.

His kinks were hopelessly tame, really. But dressing up was fun, and if it made him happy? Hell yes she'd do it again. The odds of finding a nurse uniform, much less a 'naughty' nurse uniform out in the middle of nowhere was pretty slim, but stranger things had been known to happen. She'd keep an eye out. Who knew when fate would kick something her way?

Briareos kissed her shoulder. "Think you can sleep now?"

"And how." She snuggled backwards into his arms. "Keep me company a while?"

"That was the idea, yeah." He relaxed against the tangled bedding.

Despite her intention to sleep, she found herself listening to his breathing again, wondering at how it had come to be that she still was head over heels for her stiff-necked boyfriend after everything that had happened to them. What were the odds? Was it destiny that she was crazy about him? Or just blind luck that made him so terribly perfect for her. Did he realize how much she needed him? Had she told him lately? She couldn't remember.

The 'L' word might be off limits, but that didn't mean he didn't need the occasional reminder that she was in this for the long haul. Deunan bit her lip, mustering her courage. "Bri?"

A soft snore was her only answer. Loveable or not, he was utterly oblivious. To be fair, he'd worked pretty hard to please her just minutes before. She sighed in amusement at his ability to dodge a serious conversation with her yet again. It didn't bother her. She'd corner him next time.

-Fin-


End file.
